The report by the UN-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said on Thursday some 2,200 companies made illicit payments totalling $1.8 billion to Hussein's government under the UN oil-for food programme.

It also named politicians in Russia, France, Britain, Italy and elsewhere who were given oil vouchers that could be sold for a commission to help Saddam in his quest to get UN sanctions lifted.

Congress and Foreign Minister Natwar Singh were among those in this list.

"I am deeply shocked and outraged by these allegations which are baseless and untrue," Singh said in a statement from Frankfurt, where he was in transit on his way back from a visit to Russia.

"My record in public life for the past 50 years and more has been an open book. My personal integrity has never been questioned," he said.

"This is obviously part of the continuing campaign to malign the Congress party and its senior leaders and functionaries."

A Congress spokesman issued a strong denial and said legal experts were examining options before the party over the report.

"Indian National Congress has been incorrectly and unfairly named. We reject this," Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told a news conference.

"We do not have anything to hide. We will face it squarely. I am questioning the authenticity of the reference made to the Congress party," Sharma said.

The oil-for-food programme, which began in 1996 and ended in 2003, was designed to ease the impact on ordinary Iraqis of UN sanctions, imposed when Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.